Vehicle Imaging System

ABSTRACT

A vehicle vision system includes an image sensor having a forward field of view and capturing image data of a road surface forward of the vehicle. An image processor processes the image data and the vehicle vision system determines at least an estimate of a traction condition of at least a portion of the imaged road surface. The vision system may detect objects forward of the vehicle and may distinguish between live and dead animals in the field of view of the image sensor, and may at least one of (a) generate an alert and (b) control the vehicle to assist in avoiding a collision. The system may detect situations in which the vehicle lighting system can be turned off or operated under reduced power consumption in order to enhance fuel efficiency of the vehicle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 61/083,222, filed Jul. 24, 2008, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to vehicle imaging systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicle vision systems or imaging systems are known. Examples of suchvision and/or imaging systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,677;5,877,897; 6,498,620; 5,670,935; 5,796,094; 6,396,397; 6,806,452;6,690,268; 7,005,974; 7,123,168; 7,004,606; 6,946,978; 7,038,577;6,353,392; 6,320,176; 6,313,454; and 6,824,281, which are all herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, a vehicle vision systemfor a vehicle includes an image sensor having a forward field of viewfor capturing image data of a road surface forward of the vehicle and animage processor processing the image data. The vehicle vision systemdetermines at least an estimate of a traction condition of at least aportion of the imaged road surface.

Optionally, the vehicle vision system may use the estimated tractioncondition (such as a friction condition, such as a state of friction orstate of traction or coefficient of friction or the like) estimate of anupcoming road surface and may estimate a targeted separation gap betweenthe host vehicle and a leading vehicle, and optionally the targetedseparation gap may be adjusted and estimated based on a current drivingcondition. Optionally, the vehicle vision system may adjust the targetedseparation gap based on the driving capabilities of the driver of thehost vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle visionsystem for a vehicle includes an image sensor having a field of view andcapturing image data of a scene exterior of the vehicle, a monitoringdevice monitoring power consumption of the vehicle, at least onelighting system that draws electrical power from the vehicle whenoperated, and an image processor that processes the captured image data.The electrical power drawn by the lighting system is varied at least inpart responsive to processing of the image data by the image processorin order to adjust fuel consumption by the vehicle. The system thus maydetect situations in which the vehicle lighting system can be turned offor operated under reduced power consumption in order to enhance theefficiency of the vehicle and enhance or maximize the miles per gallonof the vehicle during operation of the vehicle.

Optionally, the vehicle vision system may reduce the light generated bythe vehicle lighting system in areas where it is determined that lesslight is desired or needed while maintaining or directing light at areaswhere it is determined that light is desired or needed. Optionally, theimage sensor may have a forward field of view and may capture image dataof a scene forward of the vehicle and in the direction of forward travelof the vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle visionsystem for a vehicle includes an image sensor and image processor. Theimage sensor has a field of view exterior of the vehicle for capturingimage data of a scene forward of the vehicle. The image processorprocesses the image data and the vehicle vision system may detect andidentify animals on or at or near the road and generally forward of thevehicle, and the system may distinguish the presence of a live animalfrom a dead animal within the field of view. The system at least one of(a) generates an alert (such as responsive to detection and/oridentification of a live or dead animal within the field of view), and(b) controls the vehicle to assist in avoiding a collision (such as witha detected and/or identified animal within the field of view).

Optionally, the system may be adaptable to the driver's assumption ofrisk when operating to avoid a collision with the animal or to continueon the vehicle's path of travel. Optionally, the system may be adaptableto react differently depending on the type of animal that is detectedand identified. Optionally, the system may be adaptable to reactdifferently depending on whether the detected animal is distinguished asa live animal or a dead animal.

Optionally, the vehicle vision system may comprise at least two imagesensors having at least one of (a) a forward field of view and capturingimage data of a scene forward of the vehicle, (b) a rearward field ofview and capturing image data of a scene rearward of the vehicle and (c)a sideward field of view and capturing image data of a scene to the sideof the vehicle. A display may display the captured images as a mergedimage with image stitching of the component images to minimize artifactsof image stitching.

These and other objects, advantages and features of this invention willbecome apparent upon review of the following specification inconjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a vehicle vision system, showing a windshieldsun visor in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematics of a vehicle vision system, showing ananimal detection system in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGS. 4-14 are images representative of a vehicle vision system that isoperable to merge images from two or more cameras in accordance with thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings and the illustrative embodiments depictedtherein, an imaging system (FIG. 1) is operable to provide a sun visoror light absorbing or light inhibiting element or device may be operableto block light from external to the vehicle, such as sun, sunreflections, headlamps from oncoming vehicles and other glaring lightsources, while allowing other light to pass through the vehiclewindshield. For example, a sun visor may be embedded in or on or at ornear a windshield that can block sun light, headlamp light and/or otherglaring light sources, while leaving the rest of the scene unblocked.

In the illustrated embodiment, a light blocking or light limiting deviceor system 10 of a vehicle 11 (FIG. 1) may comprise an addressable LCDtype variable transmittance element or glass substrate or windshieldportion 12 between the driver's eyes and the light source. Thewindshield thus may comprise a “transition lens” type windshield coatingthat is selectively darkened by a scanning energy beam 14 (such as anultraviolet or UV scanning energy beam or an infrared energy beam or thelike) and returns to normal clearness when the energy beam is turnedoff. The system may adjust or “darken” the windshield portion inresponse to a detection of a light source that is determined to be at alocation where light from the light source may cause glare to the driverof the vehicle. The number and size of the “darken” areas on thewindshield are determined by the number and the size of the glaringobjects (sun, headlamps or other glaring sources), which can bedetermined by a forward facing camera 16 of a forward facing camerasystem such as described below. The size of the “darken” area on thewindshield may also be determined by the driver's eye aperture size,which varies from a smaller area (such as about 2 mm or thereabouts) inbrighter lighting conditions, to a larger area (such as about 8 mm orthereabouts) in darker lighting conditions. The windshield normally orcan be designed to attenuate most of UV and IR wavelength bands. Thewindshield coating is preferably applied to the inner surface of thewindshield so that the windshield serves as a cut-off filter to avoidthe exposure of designated UV or IR from solar radiation and otherexternal light sources, which may cause unintended “darkening” of thewindshield. The windshield coating is only darkened by the energy beamemitted from the visor system and returns to its undarkened state whenthe energy beam is deactivated.

The energy beam system or device 15 may comprise a source device ordevices, a scanner, or scanners, and optics that control the beam sizeand shape. The source may be a laser or a light emitting diode (LED) orthe like, which emits an energy beam 14 that darkens the windshieldcoating. The location of device 15 may be any suitable location, and maybe as shown in FIG. 1 or other convenient or suitable location.Preferably, the device may be located such that that the energy beamdoes not reflect from the windshield to the vehicle occupants' eyes orskin. The power density of the energy beam controls the darkness or thelevel of attenuation of the windshield coating. One may electricallycontrol the power output level at the source. Optionally, one maycontrol the duty cycle of pulse width modulation of the energy beam tocontrol the power density at the windshield coating. The scanner maycomprise 2 galvanometer scanning mirrors that scan the energy beam inthe X and Y directions on the windshield, or a lens mounted on a 2-Dscanning device that can deflect and scan the energy beam in the X and Ydirections on the windshield, or the scanner may comprise any othersuitable beam scanning means. Optionally, a digital projector-likeenergy beam system may be used, where a planar energy beam source, anaddressable device (such as a liquid crystal device or micro mirrorarray or the like) and optics are used and which deliver and control theenergy beams onto the windshield to form addressable darkened spots. Anelectric control module may be employed to control the address orcoordinates and the darkness or attenuation level. This module mayinterface with or be a part of the central control module of the visorsystem.

The system may include an object detection device or system (such as aforward facing camera or image processor and associated processor orcontrol circuitry) and a driver detection device or system, which isoperable to determine the location of driver's head or eyes (such as viaa stereo camera, a structured light and camera, and/or the like),whereby the system or systems may determine whether or not light from adetected light source may cause glare to the driver of the vehicle, andmay determine the level of “darkening” or light attenuation needed, andthe address or coordinates of the “darkened” areas. Spatial coordinatestransformation and computations that involve measured angularcoordinates of the glaring objects, the driver's eye positioncoordinates, the position of the cameras, as well as the position andangle of the windshield, will result to the output of the position ofthe “darkened” areas on windshield. Optionally, the travel direction orheading of the vehicle and/or a global positioning system may be used todetermine whether a detected light source is at a location that maycause glare to the driver. Optionally, the system may determine thelocation or angle or setting of the vehicle mirrors to indicate orapproximate the location of the head of the driver of the vehicle toassist in determining whether light from a detected light source maycause glare to the driver of the vehicle. Optionally, a forward facingcamera or imaging sensor may capture images of the scene occurringforward of the vehicle that may encompass the sun and headlamps ofoncoming vehicles. The system may distinguish detection of the sun ascompared to detection of headlamps of oncoming vehicles because the sunis slow moving unless the vehicle is turning, while the motion ofheadlamps is faster when the headlamps are near to the host vehicle.

The image processor may process the captured images and may generateaddresses or coordinates for the visor pixels and transmittance of lightthrough the visor. Thus, upon detection of and identification of orrecognition of a glaring light source (such as the sun or headlamp of anoncoming vehicle), such as in the forward path of the vehicle, thesystem may determine an appropriate window area that is to be “darkened”or that is to have a reduced transmissivity of light therethrough (suchas an area or region of the windshield between the detected light sourceand the driver's eyes), and may actuate the energy source to scan orraster the energy beam across the appropriate window area to effectivelydarken the windshield at that area while allowing light to pass throughthe rest of the windshield substantially unaffected by operation of theenergy source.

Optionally, for example, a window dimming device may comprise a windowhaving at least a portion that is treated with a coating and an energyemitting device that is operable to emit energy toward a targeted regionof the window. The coated portion of the window is selectively darkenedby energy emitted by the energy emitting device. The energy emittingdevice may emit a scanning energy beam comprising one of an ultravioletscanning energy beam and an infrared scanning energy beam. The windowmay comprise a window of a vehicle or other transparent or substantiallytransparent window or glass or polymeric substrate. The energy emittingdevice emits energy toward a selected portion of the window portion todarken the selected portion in response to a detection of a light sourcethat is determined to be at a location where light from the light sourcemay cause glare to a driver or occupant of a vehicle.

Optionally, the window darkening system may be suitable for use innon-automotive or non-windshield applications as well. For example, thesystem may be utilized at other vehicle windows, such as side windows ora rear backlite or a sun roof or the like). Optionally, it is envisionedthat aspects of the darkening system may be suitable for use in or oneyeglasses (such as sunglasses or prescription glasses or the like). Forexample, the size of each blocking area may be approximate the aperturesize of the human eye, and may vary from a smaller area (such as about 2mm or thereabouts) in brighter lighting conditions, to a larger area(such as about 8 mm or thereabouts) in darker lighting conditions. Thus,a smaller number of addressable areas are needed in applications onglasses since glasses may only have about 25-30 units or pixels acrosstheir width and less units or pixels across their vertical dimension,whereby the maximum area (in pixels or units to be scanned or energized)may be less than about 500 area units for glasses. The eyeglasses of thepresent invention may have an energy beam system similar in concept tothe windshield system of FIG. 1.

Optionally, for example, an eyeglass dimming device for eyeglasses maycomprise an eyeglass lens or optic element (such as supported in aneyeglass frame for viewing through by a person wearing the eyeglasses)having at least a portion that is treated with a coating. An energyemitting device (that may be disposed at the eyeglasses, such as at theframe of the eyeglasses or the like) is operable to emit energy toward atargeted region of the lens. The coated portion of the lens isselectively darkened by energy emitted by the energy emitting device.The energy emitting device emits energy toward a selected portion of thelens portion to darken the selected portion in response to a detectionof a light source that is determined to be at a location where lightfrom the light source may cause glare to a wearer of the eyeglasses.

Optionally, the eyeglasses may have individually addressable elements,such as in liquid crystal displays similar to computer laptop displays,or such as in spatial light modulators. With such addressable elementsin the eyeglasses, the energy beam system is not needed. Such dimmableor selectively darkenable sunglasses may be suitable for driving glassesand/or for some sports glasses, such as, for example, golf glasses(where the glasses may be selectively dimmed to reduce glare from thesun when the golfer looks up to follow the flight of the ball, but therest of the glasses are not dimmed or darkened to allow the golfer tofollow the flight of the ball when it is not between the sun and thegolfer's eyes) or the like.

Optionally, for example, an eyeglass dimming device for eyeglasses maycomprise an eyeglass lens or optic element (such as supported in aneyeglass frame for viewing through by a person wearing the eyeglasses)with addressable elements. The addressable elements are selectivelydarkened by the eyeglass dimming device (such as an electronic controlor the like that may be disposed at the eyeglasses, such as at the frameof the eyeglasses or the like) in response to a detection of a lightsource that is determined to be at a location where light from the lightsource may cause glare to the eyeglass wearer.

Optionally, an imaging system of the present invention may includemultiple headlights, such as multiple forward facing light emittingdiodes (LEDs), where the intensity of the LEDs can be controlled so thata machine vision system can see the light variations emitted by theLEDs, while a human may not discern such variations. Typically, humanscannot see more than 60-70 Hz variations and for isolated flashes humanstypically can sum photons up to 100 ms. Thus, the system may selectivelyenergize or activate the LEDs so they blast or emit light at shortintervals (faster than the threshold rate at which humans may detect theflashing of the lights) and humans may not see or discern the blast fromthe overall illumination integrated at slower time intervals. Thus, thesystem can blast or emit light forwardly of the vehicle and may detector see a substantial increase or rise in reflected light as captured bya forward facing camera or imaging system, and if done at a high enoughrate or a short enough blast or interval, a human cannot see or discernthe presence of the blast of light. The system thus may provide an easyway to see if detected light sources or items (in images captured by thecamera or imaging sensor) are reflective items or objects (such as signsor the like) or light sources (such as headlamps of oncoming vehicles ortaillights of leading vehicles or the like). Such a system may besuitable for use in intelligent headlamp control systems and/or otherautomotive vision tasks for machines.

Optionally, the system may utilize super-fast lighting for the machinevision system to “learn” the environment without alienating the drivingpublic (such as drivers of other vehicles on the road with the hostvehicle). Optionally, the system may utilize different lights (such asdifferent colored lights), and may use lights that, when energizedtogether, sum perceptually to a white colored light, but that may flashdifferent color components that would be discernible to machine visionwhile being imperceptible or not readily discernible to the human eyes.

Optionally, and although some regulatory constraints exist, the systemmay utilize multiple LED headlights, whereby the headlight orientationand intensity can be controlled quickly by the vision or imaging system.This allows the vision system to provide enhanced illumination whendesired and may reduce or increase lighting of respective regions inresponse to various inputs, such as inputs from an object detectionsystem or the like. The system thus may be operable to increase orreduce the intensity of the headlights as desired or appropriate, andthe lights may be controlled to provide a tailored illumination of thearea forward of and/or sideward of the vehicle. For example, the lightsmay be selectively activated or energized and/or aimed to illuminate thearea forward of the vehicle, while substantially not illuminating ordirecting light toward areas where other vehicles are located (such asan oncoming vehicle or a leading vehicle on the road with the subject orhost vehicle).

Such a tailorable lighting or vision system (which may adjust thedirection of the lighting in response to a forward facing camera thatdetects objects or vehicles in front of the host vehicle or a gazedetection device that detects the gaze direction of the driver of thehost vehicle and adjusts the headlights accordingly, such as byutilizing aspects of the systems described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/171,436, filed Jul. 11, 2008 by Higgins-Luthman et al. forAUTOMATIC LIGHTING SYSTEM WITH ADAPTIVE ALIGNMENT FUNCTION, publishedJan. 15, 2009 as U.S. Patent Publication No. US2009/0016073; and U.S.provisional application Ser. No. 60/949,352, filed Jul. 12, 2007, whichare hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties) mayprovide enhanced or targeted illumination and may provide enhancedsafety for the driver and passenger(s) of the host vehicle, pedestrians,other vehicles, and/or animals, and may enhance the detection of objectsor obstacles or road irregularities on the road surface on which thehost vehicle is traveling. Optionally, an output of the vision systemmay provide an input for vision systems of other vehicles.

Optionally, it is envisioned that, by selectively activating anddeactivating some of the light sources and selectively increasing anddecreasing the intensity of light sources so as to not constantlybrightly illuminate areas that are not of interest to the driver of thevehicle, the vision system may provide a reduced power consumption bythe vehicle during operation of the headlights as compared to operationof conventional headlamps. For example, a 4-10 percent power consumptionloss (or thereabouts) with the lights on may result in a 4-10 percentincrease (or thereabouts) in fuel efficiency for the host vehicle, whiledriving at night. This may be a significant improvement to vehiclemanufacturers or owners/operators of fleets of vehicles or truckcompanies or the like, and may assist the vehicle manufacturers inmeeting increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements.Also, by reducing the light emitted by the vehicle headlights when it isnot needed or even desired, the overall “light pollution” may bereduced.

Optionally, for example, the vehicle includes at least one lightingsystem that draws power from the vehicle when operated and the visionsystem may include a monitoring device that monitors the electricalpower consumption of the lighting system and/or vehicle. The imageprocessor may process captured image data and may detect situations inwhich the vehicle lighting system can be turned off or operated underreduced power consumption in order to maximize the fuel efficiency ormiles per gallon of the vehicle in a safe manner without reducing thelight output in a way that may adversely affect the viewability of thescene by the driver. The electrical power drawn by the at least onelighting system thus may be varied (such as reduced) at least in partresponsive to the image processor in order to adjust (such as reduce)fuel consumption by the vehicle.

The vehicle vision system may reduce the light generated by the vehiclelighting system during driving conditions when less vehicle lighting isdesired while directing light at areas where it is determined that lightis desired. Optionally, the image sensor may have a forward field ofview and may capture image data of a scene forward of the vehicle and inthe direction of forward travel of the vehicle. The system may controlor reduce fuel consumption, such as gasoline consumption or electricalpower consumption (such as for an electric vehicle or the like) or othertypes of fuels utilized for operation of the vehicle and/or lightingsystem. Optionally, the system may control or reduce or minimize vehicleemissions responsive at least in part to the image processor.

Optionally, the vision system may detect ice or water in or on the roadsurface in front of the vehicle. For example, the vision system mayutilize aspects of the systems described in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/948,086, filed Nov. 30, 2007, which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety, and may warn the driver of hard to seeblack ice. Optionally, such a system may measure water depth.Optionally, the system may be operable to identify the road surface(such as asphalt, concrete, metal, rain, snow, ice, water or the like)ahead of the vehicle and on which the vehicle is traveling and anyassociated road surface coatings, such as via processing image datacaptured by a forward facing imaging sensor or the like, and maydetermine (such as via a look up table or database) at least an estimateof a traction condition of or a friction condition of or the coefficientof friction for that road surface and/or coating or a portion of theroad surface ahead of the vehicle. For example, if the system determinesthat the upcoming surface looks just like the current surface did, thesystem can determine that the traction condition or coefficient offriction will probably be the same as it was for the current roadsurface. If, on the other hand, the system determines that the upcomingroad surface (or at least a portion thereof) looks different, the systemcan prepare for different traction on the upcoming surface as comparedto the current traction. The system may adjust a traction control systemor cruise control system or may generate an alert to the driver of thevehicle responsive to a detection of a change in traction or tractioncondition on the road surface ahead of the vehicle.

Optionally, the system may use estimates of the host tire contributionto the traction condition or coefficient of friction when calculating orestimating the traction condition or coefficient of friction between thevehicle tires and the road surface. Optionally, the vehicle may estimatethe traction condition or coefficient of friction or change in thetraction condition or coefficient of friction based on a detection ofmovement of other vehicles or objects on the road surface. For example,if the vehicle is traveling on a curve and a leading vehicle moves in amanner indicative to a skid or slide, then the system may determine thatthe traction condition or coefficient of friction may be reduced aheadof the host vehicle.

Optionally, the system may calculate or determine the traction conditionor coefficient of friction by using the relationship between water, ice,road surface, speed and coefficient of friction. For example, thestopping distance is related to square of the vehicle speed and thecoefficient of friction. The stopping distance gets worse (larger orlonger) with increased speed. The stopping distance is inversely relatedto the coefficient of friction. Optionally, the system may have a tableand/or calculation database embedded in the processor to assist indetermining the traction condition or coefficient of friction.

The vision system may be operable to identify the water, snow and/or iceup ahead as well as near the tires of the vehicle. Because antilockbrakes can be worse than standard brakes if snow or gravel piles into adam when brakes lock up, it is beneficial that the vision system may beoperable to identify such build up of snow or gravel in front of thevehicle.

Systems for estimating the coefficient of friction are generally for thetire road interface during actual braking. While this may be helpful(such as for antilock braking systems), it is still a reactive process.Knowing the depth of water and ice on an upcoming road surface wouldallow preparation of the braking system, and an equivalent risk ofcollision gap could be set for adaptive cruise control systems. Forexample, the stopping distance can be altered by a factor of 2 or 3 ormore by knowing the conditions of the road ahead. Although better brakereactions are good, predictive knowledge is better.

Optionally, the vision system may be operable in conjunction with anadaptive cruise control system. Optionally, the adaptive cruise controlsystem may function to keep or maintain the gap between the host vehicleand the leading vehicle at a substantially constant time to collisionstandard or a separation distance standard. Optionally, the visionsystem may use the traction condition or coefficient of frictionmeasures ahead of the host vehicle to change the separation gap based ona determined or calculated or estimated stopping distance (based on thespeed of the vehicle and the traction condition or coefficient offriction of the road surface ahead of the vehicle).

Optionally, the vision system may utilize measures of driver capability(in-vehicle), a template drive over golden routes, visibility, threatmeasures and/or the like to adjust or tune the stopping and steeringdistances for adaptive live measures rather than pre-set values. Forexample, the system may adjust the traffic gap or separation distance asa function of a predetermined standard traffic gap as a standard safetymargin by a standard driver and vehicle, such as a young driver withclear, 20/20 color vision, and normal visual threshold and contrast andreaction time for different contrast color brightness, and the like. Forexample, the system may compare the host vehicle driver to the standarddriver and adjust the separation gap or time to collision accordingly.

The stopping distance and/or separation gap may be calculated ordetermined or estimated as a function of the traction condition orcoefficient of friction, the driver's reaction time, the visibility ofthe leading vehicle or object or obstacle in front of the host vehicle,the time of day, any indications of driver alertness, the separation gapbetween the host vehicle and the detected object or leading vehicle, thetire tread of the vehicle's tires, other cars in a cocoon multi-axisaccelerometer, and/or the like. Such information may be gathered byand/or utilized with various vehicle systems, such as an adaptive cruisecontrol system, an intelligent headlamp control system, a forward facingcamera, forward collision warning (FCW) system a blind spotdetection/lane change aide (BSD/LCA) system, a reverse facing camera, ora side mounted camera looking downward near parking areas (such as usedin Japan), a global position system (GPS), a temperature sensor, ahumidity sensor, a traction condition or coefficient of frictiondetection or determination and/or other information for upcomingvehicles, an electronic stability control, an internal driver view, aminer's light and/or the like. Optionally, the stopping distance couldbe fed into an intelligent transportation system (ITS) in a weighted sumof leading vehicles and this closeness to next vehicles could be fedback into ITS but also into a center high mounted stop lamp (CHMSL) typelight or brake light steganography for other vision systems. If the hostvehicle has a vision system then it should monitor the driver and theenvironment so that other vehicles are warned if unsafe actions aregoing to occur, or probably or possibly going to occur. Optionally, ifthe host vehicle has a miner's light then the light may be adjusted ordirected to provide enhanced light on areas of concern.

Optionally, vehicles for handicapped drivers may be extended because alldrivers at various times are handicapped or challenged. For example, thevision system may detect characteristics of the driver that may beindicative of the driver being inattentive, drowsy, under the influenceof substance use, bored, young/old, healthy, having less than 20/20vision, color deficient, poor field of view, poor contrast sensitivity,poor clutter analysis, poor reaction time, poor car maintenance, orencountering a challenging environment, such as rain, snow, fog, trafficin cocoon, safe space around car, poor lighting, unsafe area-pastaccidents, icy conditions, curves, intersections and/or the like. Thedriver assistance system may tend to make each driver have at least aminimum standard of equivalent safety margin, until such time as thereexists totally automatic traffic. Optionally, the system may inform oralert other drivers of a probability that the driver of the host vehicleis potentially less than a standard driver in semi-objective ways, suchas via communication of such information via a wireless communication orsteganographic lighting communication or the like. For example, a normal60 meter gap is a 2 second gap between vehicles traveling at 65 mph, buta slower reaction time of older driver and probability of ice makes thegap for a forward collision warning to be about 120 meters. The forwardcollision warning system if detecting a gap at less than a thresholdlevel (based on the particular driver and driving conditions), such asless than about 0.7 of the calculated or determined gap (such as 120meters for the given example), may provide a warning or alert to thedriver of the host vehicle, or may provide a steganographic warning tothe leading vehicle so that the leading vehicle may relay a warning backto the driver of the host vehicle, such as through the leading vehicle'sCHMSL brake light or the like. In such a situation, the standard 60meter gap is less meaningful since what is truly desired is that theparticular driver of the vehicle keeps the gap to the leading vehicle insuch a way that the driver can stop safely if the leading vehiclesuddenly decelerates or brakes. This depends upon how good the driver isand how good the vehicle is at stopping and a blanket 60 meter distanceobscures all these individual differences.

Thus, the camera in the host vehicle can measure different contrastcolor brightness, direction, a number of items in the field of viewand/or the like. When the automatic control systems are disabled, anadvanced vehicle system can measure or determine the reaction time forvarious driver activities. For example, high-low beam switching, averageforward collision distance, blind spot detection, braking time, relativevehicle positioning within the host vehicle lane as measured by a lanedeparture warning systems (LDW), steering wheel movements, and followingcapability may be determined by the vision system and compared to the“standard driver”. The determination of driver capability may becommunicated ostensibly or steganographically to ITS systems and/orother systems or entities. Optionally, for example, such data can berelayed to driver license bodies and to other drivers and to the driverhimself/herself

Optionally, the system may adjust automatic controls or the like tomatch the driver if desired. For example, intelligent headlamp control(IHC) detection distance can be shorter or longer based upon how driverbehaves—such as for applications where the control or behavior is amatter of preference and not safety. Optionally, some applications willnot match driver, but compensate for driver deviations from standard,and may make all drivers generally equally (or similarly) safe, even ifthe particular driver has defects of driving deficiencies.

Optionally, the system may assist beginning and senior drivers, such asby utilizing traffic sign recognition (TSR), IHC, LDW, adaptive cruisecontrol (ACC) and/or GPS navigating to monitor the behavior of thedriver, and score it along multiple risk dimensions so that the car canbehave like a normal car, or more nanny-like (such as for training ofthe driver or easing the driving for the more handicapped or deficientdrivers). For example, teenage drivers typically have good perception,poorer judgment, and quick reflexes, while seniors typically have poorerperception, slower reflexes and better driver learning but are sometimesforgetful and have worse workload performance. The purchaser of thevehicle (or of an aftermarket or add-on feature to a cell phone or onaftermarket vehicle system) may want to continue the “nanny-ness” overthe teenage driver even when the parent exits the car, and may want tohave the elderly parent continue semi-independent driving as long assafely possible. Thus, the system may have an override feature, but thatfeature may be turned off or not available for some drivers of thevehicle.

Optionally, beginning and senior drivers could use an adaptive record ofhow to drive standard routes and commutes. For example, GPS, start andend choices, and TSR allow overall route identification. The drivingrecord by average of trips or a “golden drive” by a good driver leads toa record of speed, acceleration and braking, lane deviation from center,typical IHC dimming distances, coefficient of friction interaction withprecipitation (traction and rain sensor), and this may be extended to anACC system to allow measurement of any deviation from a benchmark driveso that performance of a suboptimal driver can be identified so that thevehicle risk management behaviors can be tailored for the currentdriver. Such records could be sent to parents and adult children formonitoring of driver performance. Optionally, inside monitoring ofpassenger count could bias risk management for teenage drivers (whotypically drive worse with more passengers in the vehicle). Optionally,the system may alert the driver of such driving deficiencies ordeviations from the expected or targeted performance. The system may useoptimally perceived warnings for teenage drivers (who may hear higherfrequencies so that they alone will be warned, but nearby adults will bespared the sound).

Optionally, the vision system may be operable to detect animals orobjects in the road or path of travel of the host vehicle. For example,the system may detect animals, both live and road-kill, and may identifythe animals based on expected behavior patterns and size/shape ofanimals (such as determined from an animal database). Thus, the systemmay, for both large (deer) and small (pets) animals, provide optimumdetection and evasive action, such as by detecting deer in air forpre-collision settings and by detecting static road-kill and moving liveanimals, and providing an analysis of hit versus drive-over animals anddodge probabilities versus driver risk preferences, as discussed below.For example, pet lovers and vegetarians may choose more risky maneuversto avoid animal impacts, while hunters may simply want to maximizedriver safety with less risk, and without as much concern for theanimal.

The vision system may use laser line patterns and triangulation todetect animals and/or the like, such as by utilizing aspects of themachine vision of upcoming road surface for predictive suspensiondescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/251,672, filed Oct. 15,2008, and published Apr. 16, 2009 as U.S. Patent Publication No.US2009/0097038; and U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/980,265,filed Oct. 16, 2007, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Such a system may provide localized accurate sensors forranges less than 6 meters. Optionally, and with reference to FIG. 2, thevision system of a vehicle 11 may detect the driver's gaze direction 20and a forward facing camera 22 of the vehicle 11 may be aimed in thatdirection to capture images of the object or animal 24 that the driveris looking at, whereby the image data may be processed to detect andidentify the object or animal and to control the vehicle or provide analert accordingly. The vision system may provide the potential fordetecting and identifying animals as a special case of a bump (somedetected “bumps” may be dead or live animals) in the road, and mayprovide the potential for long range detection and identification oflarger animals within standard vision scene. Optionally, the system maybe operable to distinguish dead animals from live animals (live animalsmove while dead animals do not, and live animals are warn and deadanimals typically are not; and this may be detected by a heat sensingdevice or visible or near-infrared or thermal-infrared sensors or thelike). Thus, the vision system may detect and identify animals on theroad or in the path of travel of the vehicle, and may provide an alertor may take evasive action to avoid the detected animal.

Optionally, the vision system may detect and identify animals, such asdead animals by comparing image data of a detected object (indicative ofthe size, shape, height, color, profile, and/or the like of the object)to a data base of dead animal profiles (such as profiles of dead animalsas viewed at high speed by drivers). Optionally, and with reference toFIG. 3, the system may determine the size of the object or animal byprocessing image data over time, and may match the height of the object(such as the height or location of the detected object in the imagescaptured by the forward facing camera) and the tire location so thatevasive action could be programmed into the active steering and brakingfor minimal interruption and risk to driver's path. For example, when adetected object on the road surface is about 50 meters in front of theequipped vehicle, the location of the object may be at one height andposition in the captured images, and as the vehicle approaches thedetected object, the object in the images captured by the forward facingcamera may lower toward the road surface and increase in size, and suchposition at the road surface may be compared to the tire position of theequipped vehicle to determine if evasive action is necessary or desired.Such a determination of evasive action may be responsive to the detectedlocation and/or size of the detected object and/or the steering angle orvehicle path of the equipped vehicle. As shown in FIG. 3, the area aboutfive to eight meters immediately in front of the vehicle may be a blindzone or area where the driver may not readily view the road surfacealong which the vehicle is traveling. The system thus may determine thepredicted path of the vehicle's tires to determine if the tire or tiresmay impact the detected object (that may not be visible to the driver asthe vehicle further approaches the object).

Optionally, the vision system may detect and identify live animals bycomparing image data of a detected object (indicative of the size,shape, height, color, profile, and/or the like of the object) to a database of live animal profiles (such as profiles of live animals as viewedat high speed by drivers). The database may include data pertaining toprobable animal movements, locations of animals, probable animalreactive movements after animal gets closer to an approaching vehicle.The system may provide static obstacle vehicle countermeasures from thedead animal scenario.

Optionally, the vision system may be responsive to a user input, wherebythe driver of the vehicle can input the utility function tailored fortheir preferences. For example, the driver could select a level of riskthat is acceptable to the driver in order to miss a detected animal. Forexample, some people may take no risk to avoid hitting a small animal,but may tolerate an increase accident risk level to avoid a collision ifthe animal in the path of the vehicle is identified as a dog or cat.Typically, a driver may take risks to avoid collisions with largeanimals, such as deer. If the system determines that a collision isimminent, then the system may trigger the vehicle's mitigatingbehaviors.

Optionally, the vision system may differentiate or distinguish betweenanimal detection and pedestrian detection. For example, the animaldetection system may detect erect, moving and dead/injured beings, and apedestrian detection system or subsystem may be targeted for detectederect pedestrians. The vision system may take recommended actions inresponse to detection of an object or animal, and the actions may bedifferent depending upon the vehicle speed, collision probability, sizeof the detected animal, driver preferences, legal preferences, kind ofanimal, and whether or not the animal may be a human. Optionally, thesystem may be adaptable for rules or regulations of the governmental orregulatory bodies of the region in which the vehicle is traveling, sincegovernmental and/or regulatory bodies may mandate evasive actions andrisky behaviors for different animals. For example, in India, the systemmay be tailored or adapted to avoid hitting cattle in order to protectcattle, while in Australia, the system may be tailored or adapted toavoid hitting koalas and/or kangaroos, while in the United States, thesystem may be tailored or adapted to avoid hitting common pets. Thus,the vision system offers an objective way to accommodate regulationswhich vary from place to place. Optionally, a vehicle-based globalpositioning system (GPS) could activate different system actions relatedto protected animals in the region/regions in which the vehicle istravelling.

Optionally, the vision system may include a rearward facing camera orimage sensor and may be used in conjunction with a back up assist systemor reverse aid system or rear vision system or the like. The system mayinclude a display device or display screen for viewing by the driver ofthe vehicle, and may provide a graphic overlay (such as by utilizingaspects of the systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,670,935; 5,949,331;6,222,447; and 6,611,202, and/or PCT Application No. PCT/US08/76022,filed Sep. 11, 2008, and published Mar. 19, 2009 as InternationalPublication No. WO2009/036176; and/or U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 60/971,397, filed Sep. 11, 2007, which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties) at the displayed image toenhance the driver's viewing and understanding of the displayed image.Optionally, and desirably, if the vehicle is not in reverse gearposition, the graphic overlays are not presented. Optionally, the systemmay detect the contrast of an image or a graphic overlay at the imageand may adjust the contrast sensitivity (which depends on thesurroundings) of the display device. For example, the system may utilizedifferent look-up-tables (LUTs) to map input gray levels to output graylevels. Because about 8 percent of the population has some defect ordeficiency in color vision, the system may be operable to providetunable settings to help the driver better see and view and discern thedisplayed image (especially for those people with more severe defects),so that the driver or person viewing the display may experience enhancedviewability and discernibility of the displayed image and/or may see anddiscern the graphic overlays better than with a standard contrastsetting. Thus, the system may provide a display with tunable colors(such as for a three different color graphic overlay) so that the about2-8 percent of the population that have color vision deficiencies do notsee an overlay with brown and yellow only but will be able to see anddiscern the three different colors of the graphic overlay.

Optionally, the vision system may include or provide a detector/trackingsystem that detects an object rearward or to the side of the vehicle andthat tracks the object or highlights the object at the rearview mirror(such as at the interior rearview mirror and/or the exterior rearviewmirror or mirrors) so that the driver can readily see and discern thedetected/highlighted object in the reflected image. Angularly adjustablemirrors mounted inside or outside a vehicle are normally positioned todisplay to the driver reflections of the vehicle's surrounding area. Thevision system may provide overlaid patterns or lights that are madevisible upon the mirror, or mirror boundary, into position(s) whichindicate to the driver an object, or vehicle, or area that is apotential collision danger, or source of such dangers, to the vehicle.These areas could include the vehicle's “blind spots”. The lights orpatterns may be provided at regions outside of the viewing region or maybe provided within the viewing region, such as via a display on demandtype display through a transflective mirror reflector, so that thelights are viewable through the reflective element when the lights areactivated, but are substantially not viewable or discernible through thereflective element when the lights are deactivated.

The machine vision or detector/tracking system guides the movement ofthe apparent position and visibility of the added artificial pattern orlight to the driver. The vision system senses the presence and/orposition and/or velocity of a possible collision-danger object near thevehicle. The system could also sense dangerous movements of the hostvehicle, such as crossing lane markers. The vision system directs thelight/pattern for the appropriate representation of meaningfulinformation to the vehicle driver. This direction is guided by rules ofthumb or other assumptions in lower cost systems up to advanced systemsthat actually measure where the driver's eyes are to place the patternswith high accuracy in the driver's field of view. The system may usehuman reaction times to signal light/pattern movements so that thedriver can react to dangers appropriately.

The driver, by viewing the mirror from one head position, would see thatthe apparent location of the additional artificial light/pattern will“track” with the apparent location of the other real object, or vehicle,in the mirror. This is because the artificial light pattern will appearto move in synchrony with the mirror's reflection of the otherobject/vehicle's apparent movement in the mirror scene, as viewed by thedriver. After the system determines that the danger has passed, theartificial light/pattern can become invisible or not discernible to thedriver.

Optionally, the vision system may be overridden by the driver, such asin conditions where the environment would normally trigger inappropriatelight/pattern movements. Optionally, the light/pattern can appear to thedriver to track the objects ideally, or it could partially track theobjects in a weighted fashion. Partial tracking could protect againstextreme apparent motions of the pattern, and also encourage someergonomically recommended driver head movements, preventing inattention.

The vision system thus would provide enhanced viewing and recognition ofdetected objects at the inside and/or outside mirrors, such as formultiple blind spots, for more objects than just vehicles, for areasthemselves, for tracking pattern movements, for binary patternmovements, for system tuning, and for ergonomic features. The binarypattern movements could move between two definite locations, each ofwhich signals information to the driver, such as common versuspotentially dangerous situations. The mirrors would be “assisting” thedriver, in that they show to the driver scenes that the total system“believes” that the driver “should” see, before he or she acts unwisely.

Optionally, for example, a vehicle vision system may comprise an imagesensor having a forward and/or rearward and/or sideward field of viewand capturing image data of a scene forward and/or rearward and/or tothe sides of the vehicle, an image processor processing the image dataand detecting objects of interest, and a display displaying informationto the driver of the vehicle using the interior rear view mirror and orthe windshield as a display area without compromising the driver's fieldof view of the scene and keeping the driver's attention generallyfocused forward of the vehicle and above the dashboard and below thedisplay. The vehicle vision system may be operable to highlight aportion of the display at or near the image of a detected object ofinterest and may track the image of the detected object of interest asthe image moves across the display. The display may be disposed at amirror reflective element of the vehicle and the vehicle vision systemmay highlight a portion of the display at or near the reflected image ofa detected object of interest and may track the reflection of thedetected object of interest as the reflected image moves across themirror reflective element.

Optionally, aspects of such a vision system may be implemented intonavigational displays using camera videos and graphical overlays.However, the use of the mirror itself (with the lights being at orbehind the reflective element) provides all the dynamic range of amirror, and all the resolution capability of a mirror. These ranges andresolutions are of optical quality, which may be orders of magnitudebetter than conventional navigational displays (such as CRT, LCD, and/orthe like). In addition, the vision system encourages the use of presenttechnology (rearview mirrors), which has been ingrained into generationsof drivers.

The light/patterns can be at the border of a mirror, just slightlydisplaced from the apparent location of the “dangerous” object/vehicle.The light/patterns can also be presented to the driver in locations inthe viewed mirror scene which are known to be background low-risk areas.These areas include the road surface just in front of the dangerousobject/vehicle, and the sky area immediately above the object/vehicle.The added artificial information, if projected, can be presented in sucha way that the optical path of the artificial information will give asimilar optical path distance to the eye, so that the overlayinformation appears to be close to the same depth plane of the actualobject/vehicle. The added artificial information can also be related tothe actual object/vehicle so that, for example, sounds and flashinglights similar to a real police car could be overlaid upon the apparentvisual scene in the mirror when a vehicle approaches at very highclosing velocities. The vision system may present information to thedriver, without requiring the driver to look, or hear, or respond in anydifferent way than he or she normally would. The vision system maypresent the extra information in a manner similar to the driver's vastpersonal experience. The vision system thus of the present invention mayallow all the current richness of driver experience, and present extrainformation in ways that minimize the cognitive, sensory, and motor loadof the extra information to the driver's physical and mental processingcapability.

Optionally, using the mirror positions, as set by the driver, allows agood estimation of the driver's eye positions. Knowing eye positions,mirror positions, along with the camera positions of the machine visionsystem, together with trigonometry calculations, allows a goodestimation of the position of the driver-viewed reflection of thecandidate object/vehicle in a mirror. Knowing the position of the objectreflection location and the eye location allows the appropriate positionof the overlaid light pattern to be calculated.

Optionally, a lower cost or inexpensive system may present theappropriate light/pattern in the mirror boundary close to the apparentlocation of the object/vehicle, while more advanced systems may presentthe additional light/pattern much closer, or actually surrounding, thedetected object/vehicle's apparent location in the driver's field ofview. Optionally, an even more advanced system may use a sensor (camera,radar, lidar, ultrasonic system or the like) to measure the real-timelocation of the driver's eyes (or driver's gaze direction). Optionally,the vision system could use an external driver-owned sensor system, suchas the compressed video output from the driver's cell phone camerapointed at the driver, when placed in a docking cradle in the car. Whenusing real-time information about the driver's changing eye position, ifthe driver moves, the apparent location of added artificial informationas seen in the mirror, can move in synchrony with the apparent locationof the targeted object/vehicle in the mirror.

Optionally, the system may adjust the angle or tilt or setting of themirror reflector (such as the mirror reflector of an exterior sidemirror) in response to an object or vehicle detection, in order toenhance the driver's viewability of the object and awareness of thedetected object. An angularly adjustable mirror mounted inside oroutside a vehicle is normally positioned to display to the driverreflections of the vehicle's surrounding area. The mirror may betemporarily angularly adjusted by a motor to be out of its normalposition and into a temporary position(s) which display to the driver anobject, or vehicle, or area that is a potential collision danger, orsource of such dangers, to the vehicle. These areas could include thevehicle's “blind spots”.

The motor or mirror actuator moves the mirror to potentially multiplepositions and then back to the original position, responsive to signalsfrom a detector/tracking system. The detector/tracking system could be amachine vision system or the like. The vision system senses thepresence, and/or position, and/or velocity of a possiblecollision-danger object near the vehicle. The system could also sensedangerous movements of the host vehicle, such as crossing lane markers.The vision system signals the adjustable mirror, for the appropriatedisplay of a candidate vehicle, or object, or dangerous areas, such asblind spots, to the vehicle driver. The system may use human reactiontimes to signal the mirror movements in sufficient time so that thedriver can react to dangers appropriately.

The driver, by viewing the mirror from one head position, would be ableto “track” the other object, or vehicle, because the mirror would movein such a way as to allow this “tracking” to occur. Also from one headposition, the driver would be able to see dangerous areas, or not, asthe mirror moves. After the system determines that the danger haspassed, the mirror returns to its normal position. Optionally, thesystem may be overridden by the driver, such as in conditions where theenvironment would normally trigger inappropriate mirror movements. Thesystem can track the objects ideally, or it could partially track theobjects. Partial tracking could protect against extreme mirror motions,and also encourage some ergonomically recommended driver head movements,preventing inattention.

The vision system thus would provide enhanced viewing and recognition ofdetected objects at the inside and/or outside mirrors, for multipleblind spots, for more objects than just vehicles, for areas themselves,for tracking mirror movements, for binary mirror movements, for systemtuning, and for ergonomic features. The mirrors would be adaptive or“intelligent”, or “assisting”, in that they show to the driver scenesthat the total system “believes” that the driver “should” see, beforeacting unwisely. Optionally, an electrochromic (EC) mirror (that adaptsto the light environment surrounding the vehicle), with angular adaptivecapability, adapts to the environment of light, and objects, surroundingthe vehicle, and may allow the driver to readily see the relevantenvironment, with minimal head movements, and/or minimal visualadaptation.

Optionally, the concepts of a vision system for enhanced viewing andrecognition of detected objects as discussed above, with display at ornear or around or overlaid on a rear-view mirror can also be applied todisplay systems for heads-up or larger displays at or on the windshield.These windshield displays can utilize forward facing imaging systemswith machine vision of important or threat objects or objects ofinterest and may display icons or attention-getting patterns to thedriver. Similar subsystems which monitor the driver's field of view canbe utilized so that the windshield display enhances the driver'sknowledge of the forward scene. Energy beam or projector-like systems asmentioned above with respect to the simulated visor system can be usedto highlight relevant objects in the forward windshield scenes as viewedby the driver.

Optionally, the vision system may provide a panoramic display thatcombines or merges images from two or more cameras or image sensors(such as from a center, rearward viewing camera and two side, rearwardviewing cameras) so the driver of the vehicle may view a single displaythat displays the area rearward and to the sides of the host vehicle.Such a vision system may utilize aspects of the systems described inU.S. Pat. Nos. 5,670,935; 5,949,331; 6,222,447; and 6,611,202, which arehereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Withreference to FIGS. 4-14, the vision system may perform an imagestitching function to merge or stitch images together along a desiredstitch or merge line or lines to provide an enhanced generally uniformmerged image for displaying to the driver. The image stitching areashould be adaptively placed, such as near a lane marker line in a sidecamera view. The system may utilize adaptive merge planes, or surfaces,using vehicle neighbors, and/or may use a merge surface intersectingside object detection algorithm distances for first vehicles in left,center, and right lanes. Objects farther away and road surfaces closerto the host may be double, missing or wrong sized, but this may onlyminimally affect the driver. This is because drivers typically track thenearby vehicles and mostly ignore the road in front of, and objectsbehind, the closest vehicle in the host's lane and adjacent lanes. Thestitching area may change, depending upon visible vehicles and/or otherdetected objects.

The image stitching process may limit distortion of dominant objects,vehicles and lane markers. From the side cameras, the adjacent lane carimages don't undergo cross stitching. Only closely following car sidesmay cross the default stitching area or lines. Each straight highwaylane marker line may comprise an image taken from one of the cameras.The default stitching may be just outside the host lane marker lines forall cameras. In the illustrated embodiment, there are threelane-specific cameras: host, driver-adjacent, or passenger-adjacent, andthe zipper stitching could follow the center vehicle, and limitother-lane effects. The system may judge vehicles/lanes priority, anduse that for setting the stitching and merge planes. For example, thesystem may merge surfaces to follow either the most dangerous vehicle(as determined based on rate of approach and/or location of the detectedvehicle) or the closest vehicle. The stitching may follow the lanecurves, as much as possible, and may use special line fitting algorithmsor calculations (such as a cubic spline line fitting function or thelike) so that lane markers have a substantially continuous slope if theymust cross the stitching area. For example, with gentle curves, thesystem may alter the stitching a small amount, while with more severecurves, the system may need to default to a center or curve-side cameradominance for stitching and merge surfaces. Optionally, the system maymerge surfaces so as to adapt for vehicle presence, or not, in each ofthe three lanes.

Optionally, the fiducials used for calibration of the merging surfacesand merging borders in such a vision system may be indicators or LEDsalong the host lane boundaries and back a distance from the host vehicle(such as for situations where there are no vehicles present behind thehost vehicle) to enhance the depth perception of the displayed image.Optionally, the fiducials of such a vision system may be a series ofvertical poles (such as poles that appear to be 5 meters high), alongthe host lane boundaries. In this way big trucks may look good, even upclose in the host lane. There can be several fiducial sets of cones andLEDs. For example, there may be one set for no-curvature lanes and othersets for lane curvatures of say 100, 30, 10 meters for the respectiveradius of curvature. These sets of fiducials could be used to selectmultiple calibrations for merging surfaces when lanes have been measuredfor various radii of curvature for image aligning and conversion fromimage space to 3D space.

The process of image joining can similarly include those of front andside looking cameras also in a fashion similar to the rear-side systemdescribed above for an image that combines these images into one. Thejoining of images can include a resulting 360 degree image combiningimages from the front, rear and side facing cameras. The image stitchingin such an application would follow the rules stated above. Thestitching area itself, the pixels of the border, can be camouflaged byreplacing by non-important image areas (pixels) nearby the stitchingarea which have similar contrast and color.

The imaging device and control and image processor and illuminationsource may comprise any suitable components, and may utilize aspects ofthe vision systems of the text described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,550,677;5,877,897; 6,498,620; 5,670,935; 5,796,094; 6,396,397; 6,806,452;6,690,268; 7,005,974; 7,123,168; 7,004,606; 6,946,978; 7,038,577;6,353,392; 6,320,176; 6,313,454; and 6,824,281, which are all herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The imaging deviceand/or control may be part of or share components or circuitry withother image or imaging or vision systems of the vehicle, such asheadlamp control systems and/or rain sensing systems and/or cabinmonitoring systems and/or the like.

Changes and modifications to the specifically described embodiments maybe carried out without departing from the principles of the presentinvention, which is intended to be limited only by the scope of theappended claims as interpreted according to the principles of patent lawincluding the doctrine of equivalents.

1. A vehicle vision system for a vehicle, said vehicle vision system comprising: an image sensor having a forward field of view for capturing image data of a road surface forward of the vehicle; and an image processor processing said image data, said vehicle vision system determining at least an estimate of a traction condition of at least a portion of the imaged road surface.
 2. The vehicle vision system of claim 1, wherein said vehicle vision system estimates a targeted separation gap between the host vehicle and a leading vehicle.
 3. The vehicle vision system of claim 2, wherein said targeted separation gap is adjusted based on a current driving condition.
 4. The vehicle vision system of claim 2, wherein said vehicle vision system adjusts said targeted separation gap based on the driving capabilities of the driver of the host vehicle.
 5. A vehicle vision system for a vehicle, said vehicle vision system comprising: an image sensor having a field of view and capturing image data of a scene exterior of the vehicle; a monitor monitoring power consumption of the vehicle; at least one lighting system that draws electrical power from the vehicle when operated; an image processor processing said image data; and wherein the electrical power drawn by said at least one lighting system is varied at least in part responsive to processing of said image data by said image processor in order to adjust fuel consumption by the vehicle.
 6. The vehicle vision system of claim 5, wherein the electrical power drawn by said at least one lighting system is reduced at least in part responsive to processing of said image data by said image processor in order to reduce fuel consumption by the vehicle.
 7. The vehicle vision system of claim 5, wherein said vehicle vision system reduces the light generated by said vehicle lighting system during driving conditions when less vehicle lighting is desired while directing light at areas where it is determined that light is desired.
 8. The vehicle vision system of claim 5, wherein said image sensor has a forward field of view and captures image data of a scene forward of the vehicle and in the direction of forward travel of the vehicle.
 9. A vehicle vision system for a vehicle, said vehicle vision system comprising: an image sensor and image processor, said image sensor having a field of view exterior of the vehicle for capturing image data of a scene forward of the vehicle, said image processor processing said image data; wherein said vehicle vision system distinguishes the presence of a live animal from a dead animal imaged within said field of view; and wherein said system at least one of (a) generates an alert and (b) controls the vehicle to assist in avoiding a collision.
 10. The vehicle vision system of claim 9, wherein said system is adaptable to the driver's assumption of risk when operating to avoid a collision with the animal or to continue on the vehicle's path of travel.
 11. The vehicle vision system of claim 9, wherein said system is adaptable to react differently depending on the type of animal that is detected and identified.
 12. The vehicle vision system of claim 9, wherein said system is adaptable to react differently depending on whether the detected animal is distinguished as a live animal or a dead animal.
 13. The vehicle vision system of claim 9, comprising: at least two image sensors having at least one of (a) a forward field of view and capturing image data of a scene forward of the vehicle, (b) a rearward field of view and capturing image data of a scene rearward of the vehicle and (c) a sideward field of view and capturing image data of a scene to the side of the vehicle; and a display displaying the captured images as a merged image with image stitching of the component images to minimize artifacts of image stitching. 